Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

Faculty of Science

Research in Environmental Sciences

Sustainable development issues require a long term scientific effort and knowledge integration from various disciplinary fields.

The mission of CML is in strategic multidisciplinary research in relation to the sustainable management of natural resources, environmental quality and biodiversity. Within this scope two distinct research programmes are discerned: conservation biology and industrial ecology, both addressing the relations between human activities and the physical and natural environment on the one hand and social values like health, prosperity and social well being on the other.

The two research programmes jointly contribute to sustainable governance of biodiversity and natural resources having many interlinkages with respect to methods and content.
Both conservation biology and industrial ecology are research areas with local to global dimensions not only by the character of nature and economy itself, but also because of responsibility to the international community as defined by environmental conventions and treaties. The difference in focus between the two programmes lies in the location of their prime entry in the sustainability subject.

The conservation biology programme focuses on the direct impacts of human activities on biodiversity, natural resources and ecosystem services and the development of strategies for recovery.

The industrial ecology programme focuses at the technosphere, as the linkage between economy and society on the one hand and resources & pollution on the other.

The two programmes in combination reinforce each other in tackling related issues by different entries.